Boosting Business Performance

by Adele Sommers, Ph.D.

www.LearnShareProsper.com

Adele@LearnShareProsper.com

June 10, 2010
Volume 6, Issue 8

"How-to" tips and advice on increasing business prosperity, published every other Thursday.

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Greetings!

-- Feature Article: How Strategic Is Your Business Planning?

-- Note from the Author: Imagine That Nothing Stands in Your Way...

-- Special Message: Blast-off, Tune-up, or Makeover?

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Imagine That Nothing Stands in Your Way...

Booming business trends If asked about their greatest obstacle to business or professional success, many people would probably say "funding." Are you one of them?

Many folks refrain from contemplating ambitious possibilities because they can't overcome their initial hurdle. This hurdle entails giving themselves permission to create a vision when they perceive financial challenges in their path.

Well, imagine what would happen if you had unlimited resources? What, if anything, would you do differently?

For a powerful mid-year exercise, take a few moments, hours, days, or weeks to consider what you could do if "money were no object." Picture all of your hindrances removed, and let your imagination soar. What do you experience?

Inspirational, isn't it? I often suspect that finances aren't our greatest obstacle, but perhaps imagination is. We often restrict ourselves to something much less than our highest potential until someone removes our limitations -- at least in hypothetical terms. And once our vision ignites, it pulls us forward in ways we didn't imagine were possible!

For these reasons, I hope you enjoy today's features, including, "How Strategic Is Your Business Planning?" I look forward to hearing your comments, aspirations, and strategic plans on my blog!

Here's to your business prosperity,

Adele Sommers, author of the "Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance" success program

P.S. If you missed any previous issue, visit the newsletter index!

Blast-off, Tune-up, or Makeover?

Strategic Business Planner by Adele Sommers When it comes to launching your business, tinkering with the nuts and bolts, or giving it a complete overhaul, using a potent strategic planning process can make all of the difference in the world.

That's why my Strategic Business Planner has grown over the years to include the wide range of tools my clients need to achieve success.

Although I customize every approach to fit each client's needs, the basic process in its entirety involves seven powerful phases.

Some of these phases can occur in tandem with other phases, and can repeat and refine themselves over time:

1) Life Purpose Discovery	5) Product & Service Value
2) Business Startup Tasks	6) Projects, Productivity, and Effectiveness
3) Strategic Planning	6) Projects, Productivity, and Effectiveness
4) Marketing Planning	7) Business Expansion

Whether you need to blast off (start up your business), perform a tactical tune-up (make highly focused adjustments), or conduct a strategic makeover (rethink your business purpose and, if needed, align it with your life passions), there's always a meaningful place to begin.

Read on for more ideas...

How Strategic Is Your Business Planning?
by Adele Sommers

If you currently have a business plan, how much of it taps your highest strategic thinking processes? Many plans are static, formal documents designed to impress potential backers, but do not necessarily serve as dynamic, living "vision-scapes."

And, what if you already have sufficient funding? Should you skip the business plan altogether?

For either situation, this article describes seven essential exercises to contemplate. You can incorporate the answers into a traditional business plan, or create a flexible slide presentation that powerfully communicates your vision to potential partners, affiliates, clients, and employees.

1. What are your "business success criteria"?

People puzzled about getting through a maze Do you have a crystal clear idea of the types of business undertakings that align with your gifts, talents, passions, and strengths?

Have you thought about what your business can be the very best in the world at doing?

If the answers are "yes," you are in an excellent position to choose the ventures that can give you the greatest satisfaction and results.

If you're not yet totally clear, developing a set of "business success criteria" can enable you to select worthwhile endeavors with much deeper insight, and thus set the conditions for successfully pursuing them.

Why is this so important? Many people wander into businesses, projects, and professions opportunistically, meaning that they grab something that comes along because it's available and convenient. At times, this may be necessary for financial reasons. But unless we understand our underlying success criteria, we might not recognize the options that truly fuel and inspire us -- those that are best suited to our passions and strengths.

Some of your criteria could be practical considerations, and others more lofty. But all of your criteria will be essential to achieving balance, fulfillment, prosperity, and higher contribution in your life.

2. Do you know who your target audience is?

Woman confused about her market niche Do you know which audiences are best suited to, or already seeking, what you plan to offer?

Identifying your market niche involves brainstorming a set of potential target markets, and then combining and narrowing down the lists by comparing them against various criteria.

After selecting a niche that clearly portrays your perfect client or customer, you'll want to research it further to gain a more comprehensive understanding of it.

The more you learn about the needs, wants, frustrations, pain, and challenges of your audience, the more precise your marketing and product development efforts can be.

You can conduct market research by surveying your prospects or your existing customer base, or by enlisting assistance from professional researchers, such as those at HillResearch.org.

3. Who are your competitors, comparables, and potential collaborators?

Competitors consist of other companies currently offering the same or similar products or services, companies that could offer the same or similar products or services in the future, and also companies that could remove the need for your products or services.

If you have no close competitors, look for comparable businesses offering similar products or services in related industries. If they produce complementary wares, they might become valuable affiliates or collaborators.

Clipboard To ensure that you can compete or collaborate successfully with the very best providers in your market, you first want to identify the key features of your own offerings.

You'll also identify the value elements (the special, intangible qualities, such as top-notch expertise, satisfaction warranties, or stellar customer service) that your business offers or will offer.

You then perform a competitive analysis to see how your value elements compare with those of other companies.

4. Do you know your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats?

Capturing your vision into a presentation Have you thought about how well positioned you are to take advantage of all of the positive internal and external forces in your business?

In contrast, how well can you minimize or manage the risks associated with the negative forces?

You can determine the internal factors under your control (your business strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats) via a "SWOT analysis."

You then devise strategies to harness your "strengths and opportunities" while reducing or working around your "weaknesses and threats."

5. Is your business navigating in a highly competitive ocean?

Blue ocean waves Are you planning to do business in a domain already filled with competitors, where there's only a small chance of thriving? "Blue ocean strategizing" can help you rechart the waters.

Derived from Harvard Business School's "Blue Ocean Strategy," this process repositions your business if it's in a highly competitive niche.

You can rework your offerings to include new features and eliminate, increase, or decrease others. You can also target new audiences. In so doing -- much like the wildly successful CNN, Cirque du Soleil, Curves fitness for women, Southwest Airlines, and many other businesses -- you can map new directions and ultimately sail away from your competition.

6. What are your vision, mission, values, and core beliefs?

Have you identified a purpose, visionary goals, and a set of guiding values to aim your business endeavors toward the right targets? After developing your core philosophy, you can make periodic course corrections in relation to it.

Arrow hitting a target Thomas J. Watson, Jr., former IBM chairman, explained it like this: "If an organization is to meet the challenges of a changing world, it must be prepared to change everything about itself except its basic beliefs as it moves through corporate life. . . . The only sacred cow in an organization should be its basic philosophy of doing business."

Importantly, your business values, once defined, can become screening tools to first attract, and then later evaluate, your personnel, partners, clients, and customers.

7. Have you crafted a unique selling proposition (USP)?

Light bulb Do you know how to convey the benefits of your products and services?

Based on the results of all preceding activities, this process entails creating and polishing a concise description of your offerings that differentiates you from your competition and positions you as the market leader.

Known as either a unique selling position or proposition, a USP is the unforgettable business promise you share with the world. For example: FedEx's classic, "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight."

In conclusion, when you've completed this process, you'll have a powerful business manifesto. It will contain a set of guiding principles to inspire any financial backers and prospective employees, partners, or clients.

Blue Ocean Strategy:
How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant

Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne "In a book that challenges everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic success, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne argue that cutthroat competition results in nothing but a bloody red ocean of rivals fighting over a shrinking_profit pool.

"Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than a hundred years and thirty industries, the authors argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors, but from creating 'blue oceans': untapped new market spaces ripe for growth. Such strategic moves -- which the authors call 'value innovation' -- create powerful leaps in value that often render rivals obsolete for more than a decade."

-- Harvard Business School Publishing

"Straight Talk" Special Report
"Straight Talk" Workbook

Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the author of "Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance" -- an award-winning Special Report and Workbook program.

If you liked today's issue, you'll love this down-to-earth overview of how 12 potent business-boosting strategies can reenergize the morale and productivity of your enterprise, tame unruly projects, and attract loyal, satisfied customers. It's accompanied by a step-by-step workbook designed to help you easily create your own success action plan. Browse the table of contents and reader reviews on the description page.

Adele also offers no-cost articles and resources to help small businesses and large organizations accelerate productivity and increase profitability. Learn more at LearnShareProsper.com.

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